Chapter 64. Returning to the Residence (part 2)
After a spell of autumn rain there would be a spell of coolness. However after a night of autumn rain, there was no trace of the summer’s heat. Even the sun in the sky seemed to be chilly.
In the Shen residence, the Eastern courtyard was still a scene of bustling. Old Shen Furen love extravagance and would often start preparations for her birthday celebration months ahead and the cost would naturally not be small. The money in the common fund was managed by Ren Wan Yun and even though she had also skimmed a lot, every year’s celebration was still a show of extravagance and also looked quite stylish.
And those written invitations, that were sent to the Furens and Ladies in the various residence to inform them of the events, landed onto the Third household’s Furen, talented Chen Rou Qiu.
Even though she had passed her middle age, Chen Rou Qiu still maintained the figure of a young lady. Perhaps it was the air of scholarly appearance that added a lot to her bearings that made her look better than the plump Ren Wan Yun. It was because of her beautiful looks, gentle temperament and coupled with her ability to compose and recite poetry, she was able to entrance the Third Master of the Shen residence. After marrying for so many years, Chen Rou Qiu had no sons and only Shen Yue, one daughter. Other than the two Tongfang that Old Shen Furen stuffed to Shen Wan, there was no other concubines.
The three sons of the Shen residence had different temperaments. Shen Xin was upstanding and steadfast but was overly straightforward, not careful and was somewhat blindly loyal. Shen Gui exceled in fawning and was able to achieve success one way or another in officialdom but covet wealth and lust for women. Other than having Ren Wan Yun in the residence, he also had a few concubines. It was just that Ren Wan Yun had powerful means, so even though there were many concubines, there was only a Shu daughter and could not threaten the status of her Di daughter status. Third Master, Shen Wan, in comparison was a real talent. If one to speak about the three sons, Shen Xin took the route of Old General Shen, Shen Gui and Shen Wan took the civil official’s route, then Shen Wan had fare more real abilities than his Second Older Brother.
But this did not mean that Shen Wan had no shortcomings. He did not lust for beauties and had only Chen Rou Qiu, the main wife, but he focused so much on power and just wanted to climb up. Thus, he would even step on his superiors to attain that.
At this moment, Chen Rou Qiu was carefully writing a card. The sun shone through the window and lightly landed on her body and made her facial features looked like it was of a young female. Shen Qan was tidying his collar and when he saw it, he could not help but smile as he walked to her side to hug her from the back.
“Ah.” Chen Rou Qiu blamed, “What is Master doing this for. Now my words were not written well and would need to waste a card.”
“Let me see.” Shen Wan pretended to pick up that card to look and commented, “The words are refined and graceful, just like the mistress. How can it be not written well?”
Chen Rou Qiu’s entire face blushed. When Shen Wan saw it, he could not help but feel his mood swinging.
Even after so many years, there was still an attractive pull from this wife of his, so much so that he would not even look at other females.
This was where Chen Rou Qiu was clever at. There were so many daughters in the Chen family but only she was able to firmly grasp her husband’s heart. It was not because of others stuff but her forbearance. What kind of female Shen Wan loved, she would become whatever kind. Temperaments could be installed, clothes can be changed to fit into his fancy. After a long course of time, men would be similar to pet cats and dogs and would only have you in their eyes.
“Second Sao should returned today.” Chen Rou Qiu snuggled in Shen Wan’s arms, “Do not know if Yue-er is accustom to eating the food in the temple. The mountain roads are not easy to walk on, not sure if the journey was bumpy.”
Shen Wan laughed in spite of oneself, “What worries are you vexing about. Second Sao would not let Yue-er go hungry or cold.” Seeing Chen Rou Qiu still having a worried look, he laughed, “You always see Yue-er as a child. Yue-er is already that old and after a few years, she would reach the marriageable age. What would you do then?”
“Regarding Yue-er’s marriage, I would naturally pick a perfect marriage for her. Family and character must be the best and must not be like Fifth Lady…” Her mouth slipped.
That night Old Shen Furen was talking to Ren Wan Yun and Chen Rou Qiu and had mentioned on the sly to marry off Shen Miao to Prince Yu. And as Prince Yu’s intention, would then support Shen family’s Second and Third household matters so Chen Rou Qiu had mentioned it to her husband. Shen Wan naturally agreed as he was obsessed with power and authority but no matter how much he climbed, the authority and reputation could not be compared to Shen Xin’s. He had been jealous of the First household for so many years and towards Shen Miao, he did not have a single thread of feeling. If Prince Yu obtained Shen Miao and became happy, he would recommend him in the official circles and would considered to be an unexpected joy for Shen Wan. As for how Shen Miao would be from now onwards, Shen Wan would not even care if she would be able to live well in the next half of her life.
“Do not know if Second Sao had completed the matter.” Shen Wan’s expression became serious.
After Chen Rou Qiu saw it, her entire heart slightly sank. She knew that her husband had never put power and authority at first place, although Chen Rou Qiu did not care for the First household, but as a female, there was a sense of the fox grieving when the rabbit died.
This time Ren Wan Yun suddenly propose to go to Wo Long Temple to pray, people who knew would have known that there must be some ulterior motive to it. One is afraid that after going up the mountain this time, upon their return, one would only hear of Shen Miao’s grievous news.
“Rest assure.” She lightly spoke, “Second Shen always do things appropriately so this matter… Would be a surefire plan.”
“If only it were so.” Shen Gui nodded his head.
Both of them were talking when they saw Chen Rou Qiu’s first ranked maid suddenly ran in and said with some panic on her face, “Furen, Second Furen had brought the three young ladies back.”
Seeing the panicked expression, Chen Rou Qiu was much more assured as she knew that most likely the matter was successful. She smiled gently and glanced at Shen Gui before putting on a look of concerned and asked, “Are the three young ladies alright? Are they tired?”
“It’s not good.” Shi Qing stammered, “Eldest Young Lady had gone insane.”
Chen Rou Qiu’s smiled ended abruptly.
*****
Everything was like a dream. In the well organised Shen residence, in just a short time of a day, it was all in a mess.
Shen Qing had gone insane.
Ren Wan Yun of the Second household would usually put up airs of being the mother of the entire household. Even though she had a smiling face, but that thunderous methods were obvious to everyone. Regardless of how her character was, after so many years, there wasn’t any trouble under her management so her management abilities were recognised by everyone.
However this noble woman who always never fail to remain calm and smile would for the first time showed a tired and crazy expression on her face. If there weren’t two maids by her side, others would think that it was an unknown crazy woman that ran in. And that young lady that was in her arms was truly insane. She kept struggling and screaming so much that even Old Shen Furen was alarmed.
Even though no one know what the reason was, but the truth remained that the Eldest Young Lady of the Shen family had gone crazy. However, the Shen residence treated the matter like a taboo. Those maids who had seen Shen Qing crazy were all sold away. It was said as sold away but who didn’t know that was just burying in the mass burial grounds?
The two maids by Shen Qing’s side, the two maids by Shen Yue’s side and even Gui Momo were all locked up.
As such, the only person that was unscathed was Shen Miao.
In Rong Jing Tang.
Old Shen Furen sat on the highest seat and her face was stretched tightly. Her eyes were staring straight at Shen Miao, who was standing in the middle, amd it was as if they were poisonous snakes that could eat humans up.
Three perfectly all right Young Ladies went, the one who was supposed to have a mishap was fine but the one who was supposed to be fine, ended up with the mishap. The person who should be suffering was standing here but it was Shen Qing from the Second household that suffered on her behalf. As long as Old Shen Furen thought about the matter, the anger was like a big rock stuffed in her chest.
Chen Rou Qiu and Shen Wan stood at the side and Shen Miao could only stand by Chen Rou Qiu’s side with grievance. Both her personal maids were locked up without any reasons and previously Shen Miao had said that it would be difficult to save Huang Ying and Qing Luan.
At the other side, Ren Wan Yun knelt in front of Old Shen Furen. Shen Wan had some stuff in court and had not yet returned to the residence and the servant that went to invite him over had yet to return. Naturally he did not know that his Di daughter was in trouble.
“Old Furen, you must call the shots for Qing-er.” Ren Wan Yun cried as her nose kept running that Shen Wan was also somewhat surprised. To see the Second Sao, who was always putting on airs, to not even care about her own appearance was indeed an eye opener. However, there was some comfort in Chen Rou Qiu’s heart.
Ren Wan Yun always replied on the power of being the one managing the entire household and did not take the Third household into consideration. Now that her daughter had met with some mishap, she was also like a dog crawling on the floor.
“Fifth Lady, I treat you like my own and Qing-er also give in to you for all matters. You both are sisters of the same bloodline, not to mention about supporting mutually but how could you be so vicious. You know that Qing-er’s life is considered to be ruined by you. You are really ruthless!”
Shen Yue had told Chen Rou Qiu and Shen Wan about Shen Qing being insulted by someone and at the moment all the servants were expelled as Chen Rou Qiu was also afraid that someone would hear it.
Just as Shen Miao was about to speak, she suddenly heard an angry shout behind her, “Evil girl. You harmed your sisters, have a heart that is as poisonous as vipers and scorpions and should be thrown into prison and be punished that even death is not enough!”
Shen Miao smile coldly and turned around to face the male who was striding over.
It was her Second Shu, Shen Qing’s father, Shen Gui.
